LEE, Henry, (brother of Richard Bland Lee and grandfather of William Henry
Fitzhugh Lee),
a Delegate and a Representative from Virginia; born at
Leesylvania, in Prince William County, Va., January 29, 1756; pursued
classical studies and was graduated from Princeton College in 1773; served in
the Revolutionary War; commissioned captain of a company of Virginia Dragoons
June 18, 1776, that became attached to and part of the First Continental
Dragoons March 31, 1777; lieutenant colonel November 6, 1780, and served until
the close of the war; commissioned major general, United States Army, July 19,
1798; honorably discharged June 15, 1800; became universally known as Light
Horse Harry; Member of the Continental Congress 1786-1788; advocated the
adoption of the Federal Constitution in the Virginia convention of 1788;
Governor of Virginia 1791-1794; commanded the United States forces in the
Whisky Insurrection in 1794; elected as a Federalist to the Sixth Congress
(March 4, 1799-March 3, 1801); at the request of Congress pronounced the eulogy
upon President Washington before both branches of Congress, in which Washington
is characterized as the man first in war, first in peace, and first in the
hearts of his countrymen; died on Cumberland Island, Ga., March 25, 1818;
interment at Dungeness, Ga.; reinterment in the crypt, Lee Memorial Chapel,
Washington-Lee University, at Lexington, Va., May 30, 1913.

Bibliography

Royster, Charles.
Light-Horse Harry Lee and the Legacy of the American
Revolution. 1981. Reprint, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University
Press, 1994.